Chapter 766: Approaching The Final Destination

A day passed in a blur, with Moon leading the team steadily toward the bottom of the treacherous mountain.

The fights grew more tedious the deeper they descended, because the Mountain Stalkers grew stronger the lower they went. What had started as easy prey near the peak had become some serious threats, each pack tougher than the last.

Staring at the dead pack sprawled across the ground, Garrett huffed and puffed, visibly winded by the altercation. "These damn things keep getting stronger. The ones down here hit like peak B-Rank beasts. And the fact that they’re pure body-refiners makes it worse, very few weak point to exploit, with insane durability and power. You have to grind through every single one."

Priya nodded, wiping sweat from her brow. "My attacks are getting less and less useful. I can barely deal any damage to them now. I’m basically down to pure support at this point, keeping you all healed and buffed. Thank god for Moon’s golden turtle. It’s been soaking most of the pressure at the front alongside Garrett. Without it anchoring the line, we’d be in serious trouble against packs this tough."

Moon listened to his team’s concerns, noting the fatigue in their voices and postures.

"Let’s rest for an hour and recover before we push on," he decided. "We’ve made real progress, difficult as it’s been. We can finally see the bottom of this place clearly now. At most, we should reach it within half a day."

They’d been at it for nearly ten hours straight, and his team’s physical and mental reserves were running low. Moon himself was fine, barely taxed, but his team wasn’t, and a good leader accounted for that. Pushing exhausted fighters into harder encounters was how people got killed.

The team settled in, and Moon gave them permission to nap while he kept watch.

Priya, Dmitri, and Garrett thanked him, then closed their eyes and drifted off almost immediately. With any other leader, they’d never have let their guard down so completely, sleeping in the middle of a dangerous B-Rank gate.

But after a full day of watching Moon’s competence, his composure, and the overwhelming capability of his beasts, they had no reason to doubt that he could keep them safe. That trust, earned over hours of struggle, let them rest easy.

Theo stayed awake alongside Moon, the two of them sitting near the campfire.

"How’s everything going?" Theo asked, opening a quiet conversation. "You’ve been putting in a lot of work lately. Gate after gate. You’re eyeing that Sacred-Rank spirit art, aren’t you?"

"Yeah," Moon admitted with a small smile. "I mean, who wouldn’t be? A Sacred-Rank art isn’t something that comes by often. It’s worth clearing a few gates for."

Theo nodded. "Makes sense."

He was quiet for a moment, then shook his head slowly, a note of wonder in his voice. "It’s crazy, though. How much you’ve grown in such a short time. During the tournament, what were you, about four-star? And now here you are, barely any time later, leading a team of elite five-star Evolvers through a B-Rank gate like it’s nothing. Not to mention the surpasser-rank beast soul you have yet to use."

He glanced at Moon. "People talk, you know. They can’t figure out how you do it. Most Evolvers would kill for a fraction of that progress."

Moon gazed into the campfire, "I found a path that works for me, everyone’s growth looks different. Some people climb slow whilst others climb fast. Nothing comes easy, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of luck, and the right people backing you up at the right times."

He thought of Selene, Kael and Tom, Alaric, the golden fish, the world’s flaw, some of which Theo would never hear about. "It looks like more than it is from the outside. Behind every leap you’ve seen, there’s been blood paid for it. I’ve nearly died more times than I can count."

Theo huffed a quiet laugh. "I believe that. I saw some of it firsthand." He leaned back against his log, looking up at the dark gate sky. "Still. Whatever your path is, it’s working. You will become a Surpasser soon enough, the only thing stopping you is likely the sacred-art."

He smiled faintly. "I just hope I’m still on your teams when you get there. Safest place to be in a gate is right behind you."

Moon chuckled softly, poking at the fire. ’He doesn’t know that I have less than fifteen acupoints filled...’

The two sat in comfortable quiet by the fire, watching over their sleeping teammates, the mountain gate dark and vast around them, waiting to resume the descent toward whatever ruled its depths.

When the team woke, refreshed from their rest, they resumed the descent.

Within a few hours, they encountered the first Mountain Stalker that stood apart from the rest. This one wasn’t just stronger, it looked different, Its fur, was streaked with golden lines.

A beast that broke the pattern was exactly what Moon had been waiting for.

"Leave the golden one to me," he ordered. "Take care of the others."

The team sprang into action without hesitation. Garrett and Honeybun anchored the front, Dmitri and Priya supported from range, Theo flanked, and within ten minutes the ordinary Mountain Stalkers in the pack lay dead.

While the team handled the rest, Moon focused entirely on the golden-streaked Stalker.

Lightning strikes continued to attack the beast, the soul-damaging current slowly crumbling its spiritual defenses, bolt after bolt, slowly wearing away the resistance that protected its consciousness. The Stalker snarled and thrashed, but Moon kept it contained.

When he judged its mental defenses sufficiently broken, he struck.

Curse.

The thread reached out and sank cleanly into the golden Stalker’s damaged mind.

The beast went still for a brief moment, its resistance gone, added to Moon’s mental network.

A slow smile crossed Moon’s face, ’This is the one...’

The team regrouped around him, the ordinary Stalkers dispatched, and looked to their leader expectantly.

"This one is likely part of the core group, a team leader of some sort," Moon explained, nodding to the newly controlled golden beast. "It should know where the central den is located. No more wandering, it’ll lead us straight to the heart of this mountain."

Garrett grinned, hefting his greatsword. "About time. Lead the way, then."

Moon directed the controlled golden Stalker to the front, the beast turning obediently and setting off along a hidden trail that descended toward the mountain’s depths.

"Let’s go," Moon said, and the team fell in behind him, following the cursed beast toward the central den at last, toward the true objective of the gate and whatever awaited them there.